Will e-commerce websites die?

Big shifts are happening fast.

ChatGPT launched checkout. Amazon introduced Rufus. Microsoft rolled out its own checkout. Google had Checkout + Try-On, and now they’re pushing UCP (Universal Commerce Protocol) plus Business Agents.

If users can discover products, compare options, and complete payments inside AI conversations - without ever leaving the chat, what happens to traditional e-commerce sites?

My take:
Websites won’t disappear, but they’ll lose their central role.
The real battlefield will be product listing layers - especially systems like Google Merchant Center.

In an AI-driven world, agents don’t browse websites the way humans do.
They consume structured product data: price, availability, variants, delivery, trust signals.

E-commerce sites may evolve into:

• brand + trust hubs
• content and storytelling spaces
• post-purchase and support centers

But discovery and transactions will increasingly happen elsewhere - inside AI interfaces powered by Merchant Center–like feeds.

I don’t claim to have all the answers, but I strongly believe the near future of e-commerce UX will look nothing like today.

The smartest move right now? Track visibility and adapt early.
At Visby, we’re building around this idea - measuring where and how brands show up, and preparing e-commerce features for an AI-native commerce world.

What do you think?
In the near future, what role will e-commerce websites actually play?